When Greeting Someone, Always Smile
by FlamingKohona
Summary: "My lips painted red, and a dress; what he always told me I looked my best in to bad it came with running mascara." [AU-High School]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I am back with a brand new NaruSaku idea. I hope you enjoy. **

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If you would have told me six months ago that I would be standing inside 'Kohona's Memorial Grounds' I wouldn't have believed you. Six months doesn't seem all to long to normal people, but to me it would never be enough.

Here I stand among the many others dressed in black. We were all here, the member's of the once dubbed 'Kohona High 12'; Neji, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Tenten, Chouji, Lee, Ino, Sasuke, me, and then him, the reason for us being here.

I couldn't understand it, how could someone who brought happiness and smiles to everyone be the one who was laying in the metallic casket before me. Why did this even happen? Why did the boy I love have to perish saving me and the rest of the student body?

It wasn't always like this all of this, everyone being together. Yeah sure we were friends, but he brought us together. If I was telling the truth I hated him at first, and he even knew that an yet he never once gave up on me. That was just how he was; that was, Naruto.

I still fail to take in the fact that the blonde I'm staring at is him, it wasn't supposed to be like this. We were supposed to be a long happy couple, and instead I feel like a widowed old lady. I fought off a hard breeze as the wind ruffled the edges of my black dress. My lips painted red, and a dress; what he always told me I looked my best in to bad it came with running mascara.

I guess before I tell you the anything more, I should start from day one, the day I met the blue eyed wonder who stole chips an the later on my heart. Looking back at it now he was someone that you only meet once in your life time.

The following story is how one blonde turned my whole world upside down, and then somehow managed to stabilize it all. I can wholeheartedly say this is the tale of my Naruto, the boy whom everyone saw as dumb loud, and messy; but in the end he never cared for any of that. He just cared for the well being of everyone, and gave his very life doing so.

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It was the fifth of January which meant one thing; yearbook picture day. I was hell bent on wearing my pink heels, even after my father kept telling me how they would just bother and blister my feet throughout the day. I was currently on my way to the nearest payphone to call home for a change of shoes; I guess I should have listened.

Man, the halls of this school were cluttered with people and flyers. It looked as if a typhoon had gone through them. Kohona Preparatory could so be a battlefield if it chose to be, luckily that wasn't happening. I was nearing the payphone, yeah I should have listened to my fathers opinion.

Finally I was standing in front of the payphone, sadly I couldn't dial number due to the bag of chips and coke occupying my hands; if it wasn't one thing it was another. I quickly looked for someone who I knew would hold my items sadly there wasn't anyone. It was then I noticed the odd, smiling blonde sitting aloft on the trashcan beside the payphone. His smile must have been coming from watching the frenzied people in the halls; he was my only option.

"Um, excuse me will you hold these while I use the phone?" I proposed holding the items out for him to take.

His face shot towards me, he must have been shocked that I spoke to him. His face was oddly shaped, with three whisker like marks running their way down each cheek; but his eyes, they were the clearest blue that I had seen in my life. After some time, I noticed he had taken the contents from my hand an they were now residing in his lap.

I just shook it off inserted the correct change, and began to dial home. The conversation I had with my dad was like those 'I told you so' ones, complete mockery. Even though he agreed to bring me my pink high top converse. An like that I was done using the phone, now all that was left was to gather my food. I looked over to where the blonde haired boy was, or previously sat. He was gone and that wasn't the worst of it, he had eaten my chips an drunk my coke.

I just wanted to find that little blonde headed idiot, who was he to eat and drink my food? Ew, the nerve of some people. If it wasn't for the bell ringing, I would have hunted him down an rung his neck till he repaid me for what he took. Sadly, I had to report to my first period class English. Oh how I loathed that class and its pervy teacher, Mr. Jiraiya I began shuffling down the hall, hoping maybe that blonde fucker is in that classroom. Oh, today was gonna get good if I were to run into him again.

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That was the first time I had met him, and he seemed a little I don't know... trashy to say the least. Boy, did I have the wrong perception of him. Maybe it was fate that I met him that day, or maybe it was just luck. All that mattered was that on that, crazed day I met the boy how stole my chips; Naruto Uzumaki.

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**A/N: I do hope you like how I am using a first person Sakura. I hope to hear some lovely reviews from you fabulous NaruSaku reviewers. Till next chapter, later~**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Welcome to chapter two, enjoy your read. ~**

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I could hear the pastor preaching words over the large dark hole the casket was now slowly being lowered into. If it wasn't for Sasuke's grip on my shoulder, I'm sure I would rush to stop the men lowering him down. It's funny, not long ago I would have killed to have Sasuke just to look at me, and here he was grasping my shoulder and all I wanted to do was cry and run towards the man I knew was long gone. I desired his comfort, I wanted to hear him say my name, I wanted just one more kiss. Even though I knew I could never obtain any of those, that wouldn't stop me from wanting them.

It wasn't long ago that you would have seen me, Sasuke, and Naruto out doing random teenager tendencies. How he ever got that old, cold, stuck up, snobby, Uchiha to change was something we all would have to guess about. All that mattered though was that he was here to help. I could see my other friends eyes begin to drop water, I suppose everyone has their breaking point; though I was well past mine, I hadn't stopped crying since they pronounced his death. I felt a drop of water jot against my hand. Sure, it could have been rain, but rain never came with warmth. It was someones final cry for a miracle, for Naruto to just jump out of the casket saying it was all just one of his pranks. Unfortunately his pranks were going to the afterlife with him.

Naruto always loved pulling pranks, it didn't matter friend or foe, you needed to be on your best guard at all times. He even managed to pull a prank on the very first day of our meeting. Granted I wasn't there to see it, but from what I heard from Kiba, it was priceless. If it was Naruto, it was definitely something to see and remember. His pranks were just like him; annoying and bold, but lovable. Yeah, that was him in a nutshell.

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As I said before, I Loathed this class. English was nothing more than Ino blabbering on about how her love interest, Shikamaru, hardly does anything. Oh, let's not forget our pervert teacher that makes poor Hinata sit in the front of the class for reasons unsaid. Ugh, this class always seemed to always go on forever. Suddenly a loud crowd of laughter could be heard echoing down the halls. It must have been fun to be in a not so boring class, like art. Art would be heaven compared to sitting in a desk for thirty minutes all bored. It was time to take a nap. I didn't care if our teacher had written best selling 'smut' books or not, I hated English class and always would. Just as I layed my head agaisnt the wooded front of my desk, the bell went off. Just my luck, but at least I was out of that classroom.

I watched as Ino pounced out the door followed by the rest of the room, now it was just me, Hinata, and the perv. We quickly got out of that room, and made our way toward our next class; Gym. It was never odd to hear Kiba laughing above everyone else, but it was odd to see him with someone under his arm laughing together. I looked over the two boys that were on a straight line to where we were walking. The boy under Kiba's arm had blonde hair, a black hoodie, what appeared to be an orange shirt, dark jeans, an a plain pair of black converse. The strangest thing was he had three whisker like marks on his cheeks. Oh, I knew who this boy was. It was him; the one who decided to eat my food and just run off without telling or repaying me. This was about to get good.

They now were within five feet of us, and, if I knew Kiba, he'd be announcing what was so funny real soon. And as if I scripted it he began to talk.

"Yo, Sakura, Hinata. Naruto here just pulled a good one on ole' Iruka." he said fighting back his laughter.

"Oh, did it have to do with him stealing his food?!" I snapped. I knew Kiba had no idea what I was implying, but surely 'Naruto' did.

It wasn't like I was expecting him to yell or anything, but his relaxed nature and that bright wide smile was throwing me off. I knew I had the ability to scare off most boys, but he hadn't even flinched when I mentioned him eating my food. Instead, he started digging through the cinch bag he had on his back. I was puzzled, what on earth could he be looking for? When he finally stopped his smile seemed to widen a little more than it already was. I wasn't the only one awaiting to see what he brought out of the bag, Kiba and Hinata were also focused on it.

What he pulled out actually shocked me, I literally wasn't expecting it. Dropping the bag to the floor, he held out a bottle of coke, and a bag of chips. What a unimaginable fucker he was.

"Here, take them. Sorry for eating yours earlier." he said still giving me a big grin.

"Yeah, whatever." I replied; even if he had gave me back what he took, he still stole something from me.

I took the soda and chips; I'd eat and drink them while I sat in gym watching Sasuke play basketball. Oh how I loved to just sit there an watch his every movement on the court. It may sound a tad stalkerish, but hey, what's a girl to do? It was at this time I noticed there were a lot of glares being shot at us, well, not us but him; Naruto.

"Um, so Naruto, why does everyone keep looking at you like you kicked their dog.?" I asked, with honest curiosity.

"Oh, well you remember how you lost the state football title game on a last second score?" he started plainly waiting for us to acknowledge his sentiment. "Well, I was the guy who scored, so I guess you all are still a little sore from that."

Wait, so he didn't always go here? Well I guess that explains why I couldn't think of his name or place him, but why wasn't I told that we had gotten a new student? Maybe Ino had told me in our first period class, but I didn't hear her over my pruning actions. It didn't matter, this boy had brought down my entire school for a month; maybe I could grow to like him.

Upon entry of the gym, there he was in his gym uniform. What I would give for him to just look at me; lord give his blessing for him to talk to me. Oh, how I desired for him to acknowledge my existence; but for now I would just cope with watching.

I accepted full well that he would never look at me or anyone at that. He was always sitting by himself, at breakfast, lunch, break, and class. Sure the boy was heavily popular; mostly with us girls. I looked around to find that it was just Hinata and I now. Just like every other day, we took our seats up on the bleachers. We always skipped out of gym, not because the activities were to hard; it was just the teacher could be a little too, well... 'youthful' for us.

I watched as Tenten joined us, positioning herself beside Hinata with a wide smile. More than likely she had probably just came from making out with her boyfriend, Neji. Gah, just thinking of someone else's relationships could literally burst my bubble, but not here and now, watching the boy I loved was more than enough to hold that back.

Just like normal, our teacher, Might Gai, somehow jumped out of nowhere to be standing in the middle of the basketball court. It always amazes me just how he gets to where ever it is he jumps down from. Regardless, it was time for his to loud announcement for today's game.

"Goooooooooood Morning, my youthful students. Today's event will be a five on five basketball game. Let the passion of your hearts flow into your game." Gai spouted with star filled eyes; man, was he always over dramatic.

"Yosh!" Gai's most loved pupil, Lee, shouted just as enthusiastically; Yeah this was one weird school.

I watched as the boys all quickly divided. Unfortunately, Naruto was stranded on a team of below average athletes Serves him right for stealing someones food. The teams were divided. It would be Sasuke, Neji, Kiba, Lee, and Chouji versus Naruto and, well, four other guys. Well this game would be over quick. It was going to be a pleasure seeing Sasuke beat that blonde idiot. Oh yes, the joy of this would hype me up for the rest of the day.

And seconds later the scoreboard came to life, putting 20 minutes on the clock. The boys would jump for the ball. It was Kiba against some random white haired guy; well, Team Unbeatable will be getting this one.

"Go Sasuke!" I yelled.

"Yeah, go Neji." Tenten added.

I watched as Sasuke just ignored my comment and went off to his normal starting position, but I saw Naruto's lips purse to a slight grin. Now that was a tad weird, but it didn't matter. Sasuke's team would win and trample over Naruto's. With that the ball was tossed into the air, which Kiba easily shoved back to Sasuke, and the game was on.

Sasuke quickly made his move and maneuvered swiftly by some brown haired guy, easily placing in a lay up, or whatever they're called. Oh yeah, we were cheering; me, Tenten, and shy Hinata. Now someone tossed the ball into Naruto. I noticed that Neji was playing real close to him as he was running up the court. As he crossed half court Naruto's entire physicality changed. He no longer had that grin. No, it was a whole face focus. I guess he also knew if he wanted to win it had to be him to do it. And just like that the boy took off towards the goal.  
Kiba was there to stop him, or that's what I thought. As soon as Kiba made his move to block Naruto's path, he passed the ball to the white haired guy standing behind the three point line; even more amazing, the boy's shot just went straight in a total swish. I concluded that it was just a fluke and that it wouldn't happen again.

The game waged on, both teams scoring on each of their possessions. Sasuke had just made what should have been a three pointer, but regardless they took the lead. Twenty-seven, to twenty-nine, I would give it to Naruto, he definitely could 'ball' when he chose to. This was probably the first time in months that the opposition of Sasuke's team was within twenty points, but here they were only down by two with ten seconds left till the games winner would be pronounced.

There was a brief time out while Naruto's team was in a huddle with him pointing in all kinds of directions; Sasuke's was just standing around catching their breath. Soon Gai blew the whistle, and the teams sprung to life. The ball wasn't thrown in to Naruto, no it was thrown in to some curly headed guy. After that, he tossed it to some brown haired guy, following suit he tossed it to a boy with a ponytail. They had used up 4 seconds doing this, now it came down to this. Somewhere the boy with white hair had gotten the ball, and was now tripping up. He was pummeling toward the ground. The Ball went flying towards, who else, Naruto, who was positioned behind the three point line. I could have swore before he shot he glanced at me. As he released, the ball I watched Sasuke make an attempt to block it. To his dying luck, not only did he not block it, but Naruto swished the shot, beating the buzzer, and Sasuke.

I saw Naruto thrust a fist into the air and propelling it back in forth in celebration; he had his right to celebrate he had just beat the team that no one had ever came close to defeating. I saw the expressions on Hinata's, and Tenten's were the same as mine; complete and total awe. The posture of the other members wasn't fairing to well either; well, besides Kiba's. Kiba just never cared about winning or losing, it was all about having fun. Well, I'd give Naruto this much, he must be one good player, or just have very good luck.

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That game reflects him so much, he didn't have much to work with, but he always managed to defeat the odds. He just had that 'once in a lifetime' ability to defeat anything placed in front of him; well, almost anything, I should say. As much as I wish he didn't defeat the odds, that mid May school day.

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**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this, please review. ~**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry for the delay, I was busy watching and reading Air Gear. If you haven't seen it I suggest you do. Now on to the latest instalment. **

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I was shivering. No, shivering doesn't even begin to explain it; I was shaking like a leaf in the wind. My body refused to stop it's involuntary movements, just as I refused to believe everything around me. It was all too unreal, the pastors preaching, the multitude of people crying; this was a total opposite of the atmosphere that he brought with him.

I noticed how my friends were clinging to their loved ones, something I no longer had the ability to do. All I could do was cling to Sasuke, yeah I dug my body into his. It's funny how fate works. All my life I had wanted to be close to Sasuke, yet here I was crying into him over a completely different boy; yeah fate was wondrous.

'Things happen for reasons', that's what Naruto used to say. I first realized what he meant by this on our very first lunch spent together. Yeah, it wasn't very memorable, well in a way it was; it was the first time I actually hit him. Looking back I never really hit him out of anger, no it was more of embarrassment. Naruto had an unreal ability to embarrass himself, and others easily.

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I watched as Naruto stared down Sasuke at half-court, then averted his gaze to me; I just turned to face the wall in a shrewish fashion. I couldn't stand it how could the boy who just arrived, who stole my food, beat the team which was before today noted to be undefeatable... I once again looked at half court. This time all that was there was him; Naruto Uzumaki. He was staring up at the scoreboard, proabably wondering the same thing that we were; just what the hell happened? His head pivoted to where I could see a slight grin on his face, it was not one of those 'I won and it is gloating time' smiles, it was more subtle, more calm, more attractive...Whoa, umm...well even I will admit he wasn't bad looking, but he was far from Sasukes level...Yeah, very far.

Once again I looked down and there was nobody there, just an empty court. It was unreal, just minutes ago I had witnessed the greatest game ever, and now it was like it had just ended. It was like nothing was ever taking place, it was the calm after the storm. Looking over the court I could tell no one would ever really understand the game itself, but they would definitely hear about it...

I noticed that I wasn't the only one who was still here; still here beside me was Hinata. We were possibly sharing the mutual feeling of shock. It was never normal to feel this tug of shock, anger, and, more importantly, jealousy. I have no idea where the jealousy came from, but watching Sasuke put his full effort into chasing after him, of all people. Naruto Uzumaki; even if he didn't know it, he just became my number one enemy. Yeah, I am jealous of a guy I just met, but hey, he had Sasuke chasing him... Okay that's a tad stalkerish, but I really hold Sasuke above every other guy. It was long time since we needed to report to lunch, yeah, we were gonna be late.

"Come on, Hinata, its time for lunch." I said gathering my things.

"Hai!" she chirped.

Like that, we were walking to the lunch room in a, well on my end it wasn't so much a comfortable silence. All that kept replaying in my head was the image of him smiling at half court; my mind just wouldn't shake that memory away. In a way, my body felt a need to wanna smile back, but the other opposing side just forced my body into total ignorance mode. Yeah, I would just ignore the boy and then everything would be okay.

We arrived at the lunch room and took our seats beside our gathering of friends; Ino, Shikamaru, Neji, Tenten, Lee, and Kiba. It looked like my luck was changing. He wasn't here at my table. I was silently celebrating in my head. Oh yeah, the fireworks were going off in my head.

"Uzumaki! Over here you Idiot.!" Kiba yelled, stopping my internal fireworks.

"In a minute." he yelled back holding up a finger. I noticed he was stopped in front of a table; Sasuke's table.

It looked like Naruto was telling him something, but was ignoring it 'til he raised his head in a full shock. It was at this time Naruto chuckled and parted from the table rubbing the back of his head, while Sasuke shot me an icy stare. I could feel my cheeks warming just from his simple cold look. It was in that flash second that something rung in my head; Naruto had beat him in a game of basketball, and now he was looking at me... He was definitely broken.

"So what's going on?" Naruto asked casually like he had been our friend since grade school.

I hated his existence, I hate he was at our table, and mostly I hated him in total, sadly my friends had taken a rather large liking to him. And it seemed Kiba was going to be his right hand man. Great...two pranksters being best friends, just what this school needed. Well, at least all of my other friends like Ino, Tenten, and Hinata wouldn't take to his side. Well, that assumption was wrong. They all were locked in a laugh filled talk about Naruto's earlier prank. It was something about setting an eraser as a decoy to fall on Iruka's head, then after he thought the prank was over he stepped into the slick floor ahead of the door; it was a stage two level prank, as Kiba often said, simple but efficient.

"Naruto Uzumaki, please report to the principal's office." Kurenai's voice rumbled over the loud speaker.

I watched as the boy got up grinning, like he already knew what was going to be said. Probably his previous prank, then again I didn't care, but oddly enough, someone who I never thought would speak up asked the question weighing on everyone's mind.

"So um, N-Naruto why are you needed in the o-office?" Hinata rolled with a tad bit of a stutter.

"Oh, it's probably over skipping my second period class." he said allowing his grin to grow and his eyes to sparkle.

His eyes...they truthfully filled with warmth, I could bask in their clearness all day if I chose to. Yeah, that would probably never happen, due to my love for Sasuke. I could feel my cheeks warming just from the simple thought of the warmth Naruto's eyes held. My face was red, I knew it all to well.

"Hey, Sakura, you need to go to the nurse? Your face is all red." Naruto asked placing a hand on my forehead pushing aside my bangs.

"Don't touch me!" I yelled slapping him across the face.

The smack echoed all over the entire now silent lunch room. My mind rushed to find reasoning for what I just done. I looked at the boy whose hand was now slowly retreating to his side. His eyes no longer held their unnatural warmth, no they were trembling with... with pain. It was like all his cheerfulness was ripped right out of him, his smile had faded, his head was lowered, and now he was walking towards the exit in total silence. What had I done? Yes I didn't like him, but what I just had done was wrong, I knew it beyond everything else. The red hand print on his jaw was a testament to that, but I wouldn't admit that to anyone but Naruto. Not another person would know that, but him, so I began to brace myself with the soon to be 'what the hell' accusations.

"Sakura...that was...uncalled for." Ino scolded

"She's right, you could have just removed his hand from your head." Kiba added.

"Did you see his total expression change? ...It was scary." Tenten said.

"Whatever, he needed to learn not to touch people, especially a lady." I said, turning my head away and slightly up. Yeah, I felt bad, but I had to defend my actions...

* * *

I hadn't seen Naruto throughout the remaining five classes we had, and the afternoon snack break. It was like he seemingly vanished like a ghost, not that I was truthfully looking for him. Though I knew I needed to apologize to him, I just didn't want to swallow my pride in front of my friends. And now I was walking alone towards my apartment, yeah, not having my drivers licence was not very fun, but I enjoyed walking to and from school. I was coming to a crosswalk. Normally, this wouldn't have meant much, but there he was sitting on a bench; Naruto, his head was planted into his palms looking down at the paved sidewalk beneath us.

He looked pitiful, like someone had just broken his spirits...Oh yeah, that was me no longer than four hours ago. Damn, how could I have forgotten all about that? I impulsively slapped him like he was trying to rape, or torture me. I felt like a total bitch.

I was slowly approaching him, yet his face never left his palms. Man, the more I observed his current state the more my heart clenched. If this was someone I didn't know, or perhaps didn't slap, then perhaps I could have just glanced, and be on my way; yet with him I couldn't do that. I stopped directly in front of him, yet not once had he lifted his head nor said anything.

"Naruto, are you okay?" My voice was in its soft sweet concerned tone.

He didn't even shift. No, it was like he was ignoring me. I tried the same sentence again, yet it yielded the same results. I knew that he may have been highly upset with me, but to ignore someone was highly rude. I turned to leave muttering my goodbye. Almost as quick as I turned, something, no, someone grasped my hand. Grasped isn't what I would say, the grip was weak even an inch of simple movement would have removed it; yet I stopped instantly. His eyes were surrounded by red rings, and there was a hint of moisture at the bottom of both. He had been crying. Surely what I did was wrong, but not worth crying over...It was plain to see he had been here for some amount of time. I glanced at his eyes again, the warmth I had noticed wasn't there. In its stead laid pain, and heartbreak. Just what had happened to him?

I didn't recall when I had sat down, or when my fingers had intertwined with his, but I knew this situation took priority over dealing with the holding hands...I watched as he was failing to gain composure over himself. This was a totally different boy from the one I met hours earlier. This was an uncontrollable sobbing, barely able to sit up right boy; something had torn him apart.

"Na-Naruto, what's wrong?" I asked, tightening my grip on his hand.

For the first time ever he lifted his eyes to meet mine. They held the heartbreaking statement 'please don't make me say'. Yeah, this wasn't going to be a simple easy talk, but I knew he had to confide in someone; and me being the only one within miles that he knew I had to relieve him of that pain. His hand tightened, he was abut to tell me. I had braced myself for anything..

"My uncle...the 'pervy' literature teacher...he passed away." he let out through the relentless sobs.

What had I heard? Surely he wasn't speaking of Mr. Jiraiya Though I knew that had to be the exact person he was referencing. I never hated the man, nor was he high on my list of preferable teachers, but he had to be close to Naruto to have him like this. I could see it in every tear that left his eyes, he was hurting from more than just the death itself.

"How close were you two?" I asked hoping to establish the link between the two.

A silence fell upon us, like he was questioning himself entirely. It wasn't soon that I could feel his grip fluxuating on our entangled hands. His hands they weren't as coarse as one would believe an athletes hands to be; no they were soft, and surprisingly really warm. I was shocked to actually find myself enjoying the entwining of our hands..

"He was the only family I had left." Those words were said with years of pain, and turmoil.

I was shocked to say the least. If he had just lost his final family member, that meant...he was totally alone. I could feel my body begin to tremble, for some reason him being alone didn't sit well inside of me. Though earlier I utterly despised him, now I could feel myself connecting with him; a few years earlier I had lost my father.. so I knew what this somewhat had to be like.

It was like clockwork though, my hand was totally locked in with his, I pressed my body against his; I wrapped my free hand around his back. I felt his eyes finally ceasing their tirade of waterworks. He was calming down. I never felt prouder of myself in my life. Now all that was left was to assure him that everything would be alright, and then go home with a job well done. The thought of going home came bitter sweet, I would walk home to a my mom, he didn't even have anyone yet less a mom.. Yeah not so great anymore.

"Hey, Naruto, wanna come over for a little while?" I asked. I knew just having somewhere to go at least for a small amount of time was better than nothing.

He looked at me, the warmth slowly returning to his eyes, I couldn't help but to smile at him. I was sure he would accept, but I wasn't so sure on what to do when we arrived at my house. Nonetheless he nodded in agreement, and we slowly got up to walk the remaining distance between us and my house. I have no idea why, but I grudgingly didn't release his hand; it felt too warm to release from my grasp. Yeah, this was something...

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That was the beginning of the countless times he would visit my house, some planned, others not so much, but it was fair to say they shared the same thing in common... we were always together right from the start. Yes, we were linked together forever.

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**A/N: There you have it. Sorry if it felt rushed.. Feel free to leave a review, or suggest this story to other NaruSaku lover. Till next chapter.~**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four, read at your leisure. **

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There he was, slowly being lowered, and all I could do was watch and cry. This feeling outweighed all others in various ways. The pastor was nearing the end of his long speech, and knew very well what that meant; the procession was coming to a close. My body was now at the point of giving way beneath me, I'm sure if it wasn't for my clinging to Sasuke it would have already.

My lips were begging me to mutter his name, my heart was aching in turmoil for wanting him to say mine again. I knew at releasing his name, I would lose every bit of my semi-composure I had established. I wish I could just say his name, I wished it didn't affect me like it did; just his name had the ability to break me.

He had a once in a lifetime charm, anyone fell under his spell. I witnessed this when I brought Naruto back to my house that first time. He easily plowed his way into my mom's heart, not that he had to try really hard. She simply adored the boy from first glance. I simply had hated him, well I guess what they say about opinions is true; they change.

* * *

Our walk was quiet and slightly comforting. His hand was still clasped with mine, everyone we passed looked at us making accusations of 'what a cute couple'. We were not, and weren't going to be a couple anytime soon. I just pushed their assumptions to the side, and again began enjoying the warmth of his had. Our trudge was soon to end as I saw my small apartment complex coming into view. It was only three stories tall, I lived on the bottom floor. It was less hastle with groceries and other things.

My mind was running through countless situations as I approached the door. Naruto was still being obedient and staying quiet. That was odd, earlier at school he was somewhat reckless and noisy. Nevertheless, it was time to enter my house. I twisted the rigidity knob, allowing me to enter and pull him inside with me. All I had to do now was introduce the blonde to my mom and I was set. I released my grasp on his hand, his hand just fell limp to his side; this wasn't the active boy I met earlier, no this was his inner turmoil.

I carried out the task of taking my shoes off, I watched as Naruto stared of in a daze. It was like his physical body was here, while his mentality was elsewhere. I paused myself. was this really the boy who had defeated the Sasuke Uchiha that I 'loved' so much? There was no way they were one and the same. Maybe I was forgetting the fact he had lost his final family member. I could easily sympathize with him, maybe this was what I looked like when my father died. He had finally snapped out of his pretentious daze and was working on taking his shoes off; that was good for both of us, my mom would kill us both if were to go in with our shoes on...Oh no, my mom. I had totally forgotten about her picky attitude towards my friends.

"Mom, I'm home and I brought my friend, Nar-"

"Oh my, Naruto you sure do work fast don't you?" my mom said giving him a wink. Just what was going on here...?

He was rubbing his hand behind his head carelessly, something he did a lot if I noticed right. He looked somewhat embarrassed, the other half surprised extremely. I really was feeling like I had been played to no end. Then I saw it, his eyes they weren't the full, glimmering-with-happiness ones from earlier. No, they were conflicted with an emotion that you couldn't fake, he was internally dying. He was fighting his entire being just to smile, his will power was something I marveled at; to be terribly upset a matter of minutes before he was seemingly fooling my mother with ease. Now there was the fact my mother knew him...

"So this is the Sakura you were telling me about this morning Miss Haruno. She is feisty just like you said," he said. Oh, how I wanted to just slap him for calling me feisty.. I guess if I did that, it would only further acknowledge that.

"Wait you two met? When, how, and why was I brought up?" I roared, to my moms un-delight and Naruto's surprise.

"Oh, calm down, Dear, he helped me earlier at the market." My mom said plainly.

"She forgot her purse, and I paid for her items. Thats when she thanked me, and told me she had a daughter about my age, and that she was a bit rambunctious." Naruto concluded. My own mother was calling me a handful...Well I guess she wasn't far off.

Their story left no room to argue, now there was only to explain my and Naruto's situation to her; I just hoped she would believe me. I looked to where my mom once was. She was gone, not only her but Naruto, too. Great, just what had I gotten myself into? A mom who wants me in a relationship, and the boy who is on the verge of a total emotional collapse; what a night I was about to adventure into.

* * *

It had been hours since I had arrived home, it was nearly midnight now. Naruto had made his valiant attempt to leave, but my mother kept that hope away with the 'it's too late to be out by yourself' speech. So he was formally sleeping on my couch, or, that's what he was supposed to be doing.

I watched as my door slowly inched its way open, if Naruto planned on trying to lay a "move" on me now was not the time, not that I would have made any advance at any of them. Instead of bright blonde my eyes met sandy brown; it was my mom, a rare occasion at this time of night. I braced myself for whatever it was that she had to tell me.

"Goodnight, Sakura." She said smoothly.

"Night, Naruto asleep?" I asked.

"I think he is watching tv, you can go down too. Just don't stay up too late." my mom said smiling, she knew it was Friday night...I would be up late.

I watched as she crept back out the door muttering something that I didn't catch. Well, I guess staying in my room was a great decision after all. I have food, and drinks... Okay, scratch that I 'had' food, and drinks... Looks like I'll be paying a visit to the good ol' kitchen. I quickly found my way out into the hallway, and at the top of the steps leading down stairs. I stopped. I would have to cross from the living room to the kitchen... That meant seeing Naruto. Maybe I wasn't so hungry after all.

My stomach rumbled once more, notifying me of my hunger; yeah, I was going to the kitchen. I inched halfway down the steps, just to stop and glance to see if Naruto was either awake or asleep; hopefully he was asleep. I looked slightly down and to the right; he was sitting up. He may have been sitting up, but I knew he wasn't doing it because he wanted to. No, he was sitting there staring at the ground , because he had hide his emotions all day. His body wasn't going to allow him to sleep; it wasn't going to allow him to do anything he wanted. My hunger was now gone. It seemed staring at him today simply put my emotions and actions into an endless chaos; I was now moving rapidly to him.

My body's movements were undergoing possibly the most unresponsive times ever. I had no idea when I had decided to go to him, but here I was moving towards him and his rugged blonde hair. His head shifted up to meet my gaze, he was startled. It was like my body just wasn't going to listen to me; I wanted to stop moving towards him, but I kept going till my arms flung themselves around his neck. We were embracing, I didn't care he seemed hurt, emotionless, lost, and lonely. I could never sit around and watch someone be lonely, especially now that I knew he was alone.

"Naruto...I won't...let you be lonely." I stumbled my words, but those filled the empty, dry air.

He wasn't replying to me, I began to think that I may have over reacted; that was till I felt something grip me. He was tightly hugging me, I could tell now that I had done the right thing. He was slowly returning back to his warm normal self. I could feel my eyes beginning to water, how long was it I wanted Sasuke to embrace me? I had just met Naruto, and here we were at twelve at night alone and hugging in my living room, talk about a rather large change up; though it wasn't Sasuke, I couldn't deny that this embrace had a certain unattainable quality to it. Yeah, we both needed it.

"Thanks...Sakura." he let out through a few sniffles.

* * *

Just as I promised to never let him be lonely, he promised me the same. Though what brought that about was different, but similar circumstances. He was so...Well, he was just Naruto. Sadly my Naruto was now gone, and I was again lonely.

* * *

**Sorry if it is to short, I just needed a transitional chapter to further what I have coming up. Leave a review if you feel up to it. Till next time. ~**


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